Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly
Chapter 5
Garrett
“Hey, man, we’re almost done in here. Good thing you’ll be the one in charge after Dad retires. He won’t fire his protégée for sneaking off all morning.” My brother Everett had arrived while I was in the treehouse and just in time to give me crap about missing most of the kitchen demo. My crew had cleared almost the entire space in my absence, and I could hear them outside loading up the trucks to haul away the old cabinets and appliances. It was just Ev and me left in the kitchen.
“No matter what papers we signed or what Mom says, Dad will never retire. He’ll run Monroe & Sons forever.” I grabbed the broom and started sweeping. “You finished with the cabinets yet? We should be ready to start installing them at the end of next week.”
“Yes, sir,” he drawled.
“Very funny. You’re older—you could have been the chosen son. It didn’t have to be just me.”
“Nope, I’m happy with my shop and I’ll be happy to keep working for you when that day comes.”
“Did Barrett leave already?”
“Yeah, he had to meet Dad and Sadie up at the Bandit Lake site.”
“I’m glad he’s running that one. Do those two ever stop arguing?”
“They don’t and it’s hilarious. She sure knows how to push old Barrett’s buttons.”
“’Bout time. Someone needs to push them. Maybe she can get that stick out of his ass while she’s at it.” My father had hired Sadie as an interior designer. He was always coming up with ways to expand the business. The fact that she and Barrett drove each other crazy was an unexpected and amusing bonus.
He nodded in agreement. “Here’s to hoping. Did Mom call you yet? Dinner at the house tonight, six o’clock.”
“No, I haven’t heard from her today.”
“Be prepared. I think you’re her next project.”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not.”
“No? Like you say no and that’s it? We all know you’re her special wittle boy, but good luck with that, bro.” He laughed.
“She doesn’t boss me around like she does the rest of y’all. I’m not going to worry about it.”
“I’ll be sure not to laugh too hard when you’re left shocked and wondering what the hell’s going on—probably on your wedding day.” His phone pinged with a text message. After a smirk in my direction, he sent a text back and headed for the front door of the inn. “Later, Garrett.”
“Yeah, later.” My mother liked to meddle, and was all up in Everett and Wyatt’s business when it came to their relationships with their now-wives. She wasn’t that way with me though. And yeah, it was because I was the youngest. It hadn’t escaped my notice that she still treated me like a baby sometimes.
* * *
I pulled into my parents’ long driveway for dinner with a grimace. The house in town was an old Victorian sitting on a huge corner patch of prime downtown Green Valley real estate. Since it held the office for Monroe & Sons, the driveway was also a parking lot, and to my dismay, it was full. I spotted each one of my brothers’ cars, some cars I didn’t recognize, and a few Jeeps, which told me Wyatt’s wife, Sabrina, and at least two other Logans—her family—were here too.
Was there a party I didn’t know about? I thought this was just a family dinner. Sure, now that two of my brothers had gotten married, the family was bigger, but there were way too many cars to account for that.
“I see one of my favorite boys!”
“Hey, Ma,” I called as I slammed my truck door behind myself, wincing at the squeak of the door.
Her hands waved happily as she stepped off the porch in my direction. “I heard the news and I’m so happy!”
I turned around when a red Volkswagen Beetle pulled in next to me. Molly got out wearing a purple sundress patterned with llamas wearing sunglasses and a big smile on her face. “Hey, y’all.” Even though the dress was completely ridiculous, she was hot in it. It was all I could do not to give her a thorough up and down and look my fill.
“Hey, honey! A little birdie told me all about the two of you kissing at Genie’s and I am thrilled to pieces for y’all! And for me!” A slightly manic giggle escaped before my mother continued. “I had the most terrible day. I was down with a migraine for hours, then your daddy threw his back out at the Bandit Lake house. He’s okay now, bless his heart. Your aunt Dahlia called to tell me your uncle Ben broke his leg skiing. But, don’t you worry, I’ll be calling that brother of mine tomorrow to give him a piece of my mind—skiing down that big mountain, at his age? I don’t think so! I think my magnolia tree is dyin’ and the toilet in the downstairs powder room is all backed up, so don’t go number two in there until it gets fixed. I just have to say, your news was like sunshine on a stormy day! I had to throw a little impromptu dinner party to celebrate it! This is the best day ever!” She clapped her hands once, whirled around with a wave and a flourish, and went back inside the house.
Molly turned to me, eyes huge in her face. “I didn’t catch even half of what she said, Garrett. She knows we kissed? How does she know? I mean, I’m only eighty percent sure we even did!” she hissed in question.
I leaned in. “I have no idea how she knows what she knows, other than she almost always knows everything. I’ll explain it all to her later, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. I heard the words ‘best day ever’ and I’m not about to wreck that for her. Not yet, anyway.”
I nodded with my hand held out. She took it with narrowed eyes and a determined smile that said she knew exactly what waited for us inside—a bunch of gossiping family members, most of whom had matchmaking tendencies or were just outright nosy. We held hands in solidarity as we crossed the parking lot to the porch.
My mother bustled about in the kitchen, gathering napkins and a pitcher of lemonade. “Come in! Wash up in the kitchen and meet everyone in the dining room.” She hurried through the arched entrance and called out, “They’re here! Start passing the food around!”
“Uncle Garrett.” I bent down, better to hear the whispering voice. “This is the weirdest dinner ever,” said ten-year-old Mak, Wyatt’s oldest daughter, her eyes big with warning.
“Hey.” I looked up to see Ruby, Sabrina’s niece, and Gracie, one of the now ever-present Hill sisters, had entered the kitchen to stand behind Mak.
“Looks like y’all are up next.” Gracie snickered.
Molly stiffened beside me and her hand squeezed mine once before she let it go to point at Gracie. “Gracie May Hill, no shenanigans. I know about your nosy matchmaking. Clara told me all about what went on with your sister.”
Gracie held her hands up. “I’m not doing a thing. This one’s out of my hands. Plus, I’m still exhausted from our work on the Everett-and-Willa courtship. Aren’t you tired, Ruby?”
“Oh, totally. That was taxing on so many levels. So, we’re here in a different capacity. Which is weird, but . . .” Ruby shrugged.
“But here we are, warning you that Miss Becky Lee has gone ‘round the bend,” Gracie finished for her.
“Yeah, she’s gone full on Pride and Prejudice-Mrs. Bennet-matchmaker, except y’all are brothers not sisters.”
Gracie disagreed. “No, she’s more like Emma. She’s totally bonkers with it.”
“How in the world do you know all this?” I demanded.
Gracie rolled her eyes at me. “Duh, because of my sisters, plus I work for Everett and—I don’t know—like, basic observation.”
Ruby cut in. “I live with Wyatt and Sabrina, and seriously, this is a small town. Everyone always knows everything.” She turned to Gracie with an incredulous look. “Like, how do they not know everyone’s talking about them?”
“Too right. You’re lucky we’re here to warn you,” Gracie agreed.
“You’re lucky, Uncle Garrett!” Mak chimed in. She was eating this entire conversation right up.
“It was last night!” Molly’s incredulity matched my own. I stood there staring at the girls and wondering what I had gotten myself into by coming over here for dinner.
“This family’s gossip phone tree and underhanded planning is legit,” Gracie said sagely.
“And none of this even gets into the bizarre smorgasbord in there either. Be prepared,” Ruby informed us as an aside.
“If being pregnant means craving that weird stuff, count me out,” Gracie said as she turned to follow Ruby.
“Count me out too,” Mak agreed and followed the older girls out of the kitchen.
“Holy crap, Garrett. What should we do?” Her eyes were big with worry as she stared up at me. I had to make this better.
“Nothing. Don’t worry, my mother will drop it if I ask her to. Come on.” I grabbed her hand once again and tugged her behind me to head into the dining room.
The dining room was massive and kind of a sore spot between my parents—not an ugly sore spot, just one that my dad couldn’t stop razzing my mother about. Last year, much to my father’s dismay, my mother spent a huge chunk of money on wood for a new dining room suite with a table so big it should have its own zip code and we were not allowed to utter one word about how all of it was custom made by Everett. Not until my father moved on from the fact that she’d convinced Everett to clear out his study and knock down the wall in order to fit the dang thing inside the house while he was off on a fishing trip with Wyatt and his kids. Bottom line—she remodeled my father’s man cave into an extra-large dining room behind his back and accepted my father’s good-natured zingers about it as her due.
“There they are! The happy couple!” my mother cried as we entered.
I froze. Molly bumped into my back and my eyes shot straight to Everett who was grinning at me from the table. “Told you so,” he mouthed. I couldn’t flip him off because my mother was in the room, so I settled for a weak scowl instead.
Molly’s hand in mine tightened into a death squeeze. I quickly turned around to reassure her and bent to speak softly in her ear. “It’s fine. I’ll explain it to her later and she’ll drop this whole thing. Okay?” She nodded and released my hand with a huge sigh.
My mother, an eternal momma bear to all who needed a mother and always the consummate hostess, passed us glasses of lemonade from a silver tray. “Y’all two sit right here,” she ordered and pointed. I shot her a look, but we sat down anyway. I was next to Sabrina, who promptly burst into tears and threw her arms around my neck. Since her pregnancy, the normally shy Sabrina had changed, at least with the family. Everything made her cry; we were always on the lookout and prepared to give her a hug at a moment’s notice.
“It’s okay,” I whispered and patted her back as Wyatt rushed up to sit on her other side and take over the hug.
“Garrett, your momma made that lemonade because I love it. I love this family . . .” she sobbed into Wyatt’s chest.
“Don’t drink that lemonade, man,” Wyatt warned me. “It is pure sugar.”
“It’s the best lemonade in the entire world,” she countered. “And I love your mother so much,” she cried.
“She loves you too, darlin’,” he whispered in her ear.
“So, did she make this pickle stuff for you too?” Hesitantly, I took what resembled a jalapeno popper with a hollowed-out pickle in place of a jalapeno from one of the many pickle-based hors d’oeuvre trays covering the table—fried pickles, chopped pickle-covered devilled eggs, a huge cheeseball studded with diced pickles…
“Pickle poppers,” Wyatt answered. “Yeah, Sabrina had a craving for party food. And pickles—always pickles.”
“Pickle party food, huh?” I chuckled as I tasted the pickle stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon. It wasn’t too bad. “So, what about you, Willa. Any of this for you?” Willa was across from us, sitting between Everett and her sisters, sipping the extremely sweet lemonade with a grimace. She was not nearly as far along as Sabrina, but I knew crap-all about pregnant women and when they started craving stuff.
Everett lifted a platter full of fried pickles and offered it to Willa, who shook her head no, then to Molly who daintily grabbed one to pop into her mouth. “Nah, she’s easy so far,” Everett answered for her. “Basically, if it’s a cow and it’s dead, she wants to eat it. Dad’s grilling out back with Barrett. Your brothers are out there too, Molls.”
“I can’t wait.” Willa grinned, then beamed when Everett planted a kiss on her cheek and fed her a potato chip I could only assume was pickle flavored.
“Meat. That’s what I’m talking about.” I held out my fist and Willa bumped it with a smile.
I turned to Molly, sitting there smiling blankly as she looked around the room. Belatedly, I realized she was probably having trouble hearing us. It was crowded in here and sounds blended together for her when there was a lot of noise in a room. Between Wyatt’s kids, Sadie’s two boys, and Abbie running around the house playing, the different conversations happening at the same time, and the music coming from the back yard, it was pretty noisy right now. “You doing okay?” I put my arm over the back of her chair and leaned across to ask in her opposite ear—I had sat on the wrong side for her to hear me. “Trade places with me.” She nodded and stood up. “Sorry, cutie,” I leaned in to whisper once we’d sat down.
She leaned right back into me to hiss in my ear. “That ‘cutie’ is not going to help your case when you talk to your mother, Garrett.”
“Neither is all our whispering right now. Or this,” I patted her shoulder with my hand, to remind her my arm was around her. She shrugged her shoulder and scowled at me. I removed my arm with a laugh.
I looked up to see the four Hill sisters, tall, blond, and gorgeous, all sitting in a row across the table next to Everett, their eyebrows raised as they watched Molly and me. And Ruby, sat at the end, waggling hers with a knowing smirk. “What are y’all looking at?” Molly sniped.
“It’ll be more fun to watch you figure it out,” Clara drawled.
“Okay, y’all, dinner is served. Kids, find a seat. Grandpa is coming in with the food!” my mother hollered as she hurried into the room, then stopped next to Molly. “You’re up next, sweetie! I can’t wait to see what you’re gonna crave!” she said as she passed us to go into the kitchen.
“Ma!” I shouted at her retreating back, shocked at how far she was taking this whole thing.
Abandoning all pretense of keeping things cool between us, Molly yanked me close by the collar of my T-shirt. “What did she say?” she hissed.
I shook my head. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it, I promise.”